Articles about data centers

Event Calendar

Information Session: CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator (Virtual)

A virtual information session on the University of Washington CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator’s 2027 Data Center Innovation Cohort, supported… Read More

UW, Microsoft and E8 back climate tech incubator targeting data centers as AI energy concerns surge

The University of Washington’s CoMotion Labs is partnering with Microsoft and E8 to launch a four-month incubator tackling the growing environmental impact of AI data centers. The program will support early-stage startups developing solutions for energy storage, efficient cooling, e-waste reduction and low-carbon materials. Read More

NLM Photonics adds key investors in quest to reduce the power needed to move data between chips

The Seattle startup’s materials sit on top of silicon chips and imprint data onto a beam of light using less power. Mitsubishi Chemical’s venture arm and Pangaea Ventures joined a $13 million round. Read More

Illustration: Cowboy Space data center in orbit

Cowboy Space leases a huge facility in the Seattle area to produce hardware for orbital data centers

California-based Cowboy Space is leasing a 291,035-square-foot industrial facility in Kent, Wash., to support the production of hardware for its… Read More

Not dead yet: The race to give spent EV batteries a second life on the grid and beyond

A decade or two on the road will drain an EV battery’s range and hobble its acceleration. But while it peters out for daily commutes, that battery still has a lot of juice left. This episode of Positive Charge from GeekWire focuses on companies resurrecting these batteries to power off-grid communities, industrial sites and energy-hungry data centers. Read More

Illustration: Satellite swinging around Earth

Starcloud raises $250M to support the creation of data center satellite network in league with Nvidia

Seattle-area space startup will use Nvidia’s next-gen chip on its own next-gen satellites for AI data processing. Read More

Protesters dressed as rogue AI agents target OpenAI in Bellevue with balloons and hot pink vests

A national campaign against AI expansion made its Seattle-area stop Friday at OpenAI’s Bellevue office, where demonstrators in hot pink “AI agent” vests entered the lobby with balloons and a chorus of “Happy Rogue Day to OpenAI.” The protest drew national attention. Read More

Podcast

Elon Musk’s Starlink swagger, SpaceX vs. the cloud giants, and Seattle’s tech universe revisited

SpaceX reports its first quarter as a public company, and Elon Musk says Starlink could deliver a majority of the world’s internet within a decade. Also on the GeekWire Podcast: two Washington tech universe posters, 17 years apart, and a timely question about Google’s first office. Read More

Amazon tops $3 trillion and Microsoft surges as Wall Street sets aside AI spending fears, for now

Amazon passed $3 trillion in market value for the first time Monday and Microsoft climbed 5%, extending a rally that followed cloud earnings from both companies last week. The two are now the world’s fourth and fifth most valuable companies. Read More

Illustration: Sophia Space orbital data center with TILE architecture

AI plus IP: Sophia Space and Caltech secure a patent for orbital data centers that use passive cooling

Startup’s co-founder believes modular architecture for data-crunching satellites will eventually become the industry standard — and become licensable. Read More

Microsoft Azure tops $100B in annual revenue as record AI spending cuts into cash flow

Microsoft’s Azure cloud business grew 43% last quarter — well past its own forecast — and topped $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time. The cost: a record $41 billion in capital spending, with free cash flow down 23%. Shares rose after hours, reversing the recent pattern. Read More

Amazon earnings preview: Wall Street looks for more cloud growth as AI spending hits a record

Amazon reports second-quarter results Thursday afternoon, with AWS growth expected to accelerate and capital spending on pace for a record $200 billion this year. The big question: How much patience do investors have left for the company’s bet on AI? Read More

Protesters confront Microsoft CSO over carbon goals and AI, disrupting climate event

A fireside chat with Microsoft Chief Sustainability Officer Melanie Nakagawa, moderated by GeekWire reporter Lisa Stiffler at a PNW Climate Week closing event, was derailed by protesters raising concerns about data center energy impacts. Read More

Departing AWS exec Dave Brown is reportedly joining Meta, as Facebook parent mulls its own cloud

Dave Brown, the senior AWS executive whose departure Amazon announced this week, is joining Meta to work on its data center build-out, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The move comes as Meta weighs whether to launch a cloud business of its own, which would put it in competition with AWS. Read More

Microsoft’s carbon emissions climb 25% as tech giants grapple with AI’s energy toll

Microsoft’s annual sustainability report shows a 25% emissions jump fueled by AI energy demands, testing its 2030 climate goal to become carbon negative. But its chief sustainability officer remains optimistic that long-term investments in carbon reductions and a “portfolio approach” can still rescue their ambitious targets. Read More

Microsoft says its data centers use 90% less water than its earliest facilities as public concern grows

Microsoft cuts data center water intensity by 90% and hits a major replenishment milestone as tech giants face growing public backlash over resource consumption. Read More

Amazon employees file civil rights complaint over company probe into data center testimony

An employee group filed a complaint against Amazon with the City of Seattle, alleging the company is wrongly investigating three engineers for testifying before the City Council in favor of regulating data centers. Amazon says the probe is focused on whether employees followed its procedures for speaking as company representatives. Read More

Startup led by Microsoft veterans debuts the first real-time carbon tracker for AI workloads

A new tool from Seattle-based startup Neuralwatt calculates the exact AI carbon footprint tracker metrics for individual prompts in real time to curb data center emissions. Read More

Former AWS CEO Adam Selipsky to lead new $10B AI data center venture

Former Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky is returning to the world of cloud infrastructure as co-founder and CEO of Helix Digital Infrastructure, a newly-launched company backed by more than $10 billion. Read More

Amazon claims data centers are 7-times more water-efficient than rivals as Seattle pauses new builds

Amazon is working to rewrite the narrative around data center’s environmental toll as local communities begin shutting the door on rapid AI expansion. Read More

‘This is Seattle’s position on AI’: City Council votes unanimously to pause big new data centers

The Seattle City Council voted 9-0 to halt applications for data centers larger than 20 megavolt-amperes for one year, while the city studies their impact on the power grid, water supply, utility rates, and economy. The moratorium takes effect as soon as Mayor Katie Wilson signs it. Read More

Data center operator reveals plans for downtown Seattle facility as city weighs one-year ban

Digital Realty has filed permits to redevelop a downtown Seattle building into a six-story data center, lab and retail project, as the City Council moves toward a one-year moratorium on new data centers. Read More

Microsoft holds up rural Washington as data centers ‘gone right,’ but does the model still work?

As data center backlash builds nationwide, Microsoft is pointing to Quincy, Wash., as Exhibit A in making the case that… Read More

EV startup Electric Era launches battery systems to tackle data center energy crunch

Seattle EV startup Electric Era is launching the CoPower Platform to bypass utility delays and provide rapid battery storage for power-hungry data centers. Read More

Data center resistance comes home to Seattle as council considers a one-year freeze

As Amazon and Microsoft pour billions into AI, Seattle residents push back against new data centers over worries about rising energy costs and environmental impacts. Read More

Startup building portable AI data centers for remote operations grows Seattle-area hub to 120 people

Armada’s customers include the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, which uses its technology for wildfire connectivity, and oil and gas companies operating in remote locations. The company has also expanded its partnership with Microsoft. Read More

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